Walking On Water

While out at the Sand Dunes in November I was able to capture this image of a man pointing his camera at the setting sun. The image was a last minute one that I hadn't planned on shooting, but the man's silhouette just sold the scene for me. Instead of merely a darkening sky and the reflections of the creek breaking up the blackened foreground, I have a man enjoying one of the country's great wonders at dusk.

I didn't catch his name, or if I did, I can't recall his name, but I did give him the address to this blog, so perhaps he'll peruse on by one day and see himself the way my camera saw him.

Dusk at the Dunes

I [Heart] Brains

Zombie Girl with a Flower

There's a not-so secret in Denver, Colorado. Every year, for one day only, a feral outbreak hits the city, spreading a plague of the undead across the Mile High City, specifically along the 16th Street Mall and Skyline Park. For eight years now, the EyeHeartBrains.com zombie crawl has traversed the core of downtown Denver, bringing record breaking numbers of zombies to the city and leaving blood and bloody carcasses in it's wake.

Zombies of all shapes and sizes, ages and backgrounds crawled along the walking outdoor mall and where there are zombies there are zombie hunters, survivalists and, yes, looky-loos. I, once again, was one of those looky-loos. Camera in hand -- this is a photography blog after all -- I buttoned up my courage and drove downtown to the heart of the outbreak. As it turns out, there's a zombie for just about everything: zombie Star Wars characters, zombie Jesus', zombie fishermen and a plethora of zombie nurses.


 Below are a handful of zombie pictures, some of my favorites from the day and then a link to some more. Enjoy!

What do zombies need more than a Brainz-on-a-Stick Vendor?

A Big Zombie with Hot Pink Hair

Obligatory Zombie Nurse and one of my personal favorite shots of the day

Always Carry (Zombie) Protection

Click the Above Image for the Full Album

Fall in Colorado

As the saying goes, there's gold in them thar hills and last week I had a chance to grab a  few shots of the changing leaves. Years ago, I used to head into the mountains regularly, at least a few times a month, but when gas prices started becoming ridiculously high and employment started becoming ridiculously scarce, spending $60 just to drive into the mountains became a luxury, not a necessity. Let me be clear, $60 doesn't fill my 28 gallon gas tank, it merely provides enough gas for me to drive up and drive back and doesn't include any food I might purchase, lift tickets or overnight stays, etc.

Beer City Mountain

A year ago I took the motorcycle with me, thus reducing the overhead costs significantly, but I couldn't bring along my tripod or dogs, so this year I decided to take my truck, improving my capacity to bring long canine companions, extra gear, food and drinks. Normally, I'd ask to borrow a friend's extra car, since it gets roughly 25 miles to the gallon while my truck peaks out at 15mpg, downhill, with a tailwind. However, the car wasn't being very reliable and I was left with no choice but to take my gas-guzzling behemoth.

My first thought was to go for a short hike on a trail I know barely an hour outside of Denver, but after stopping to take a picture and sinking nearly up to my knees in some mud, I decided to forego being on my feet all day and just drive around.

Without a plan of action now, I headed up Guanella Pass near Georgetown, CO. to see what there was to see. And it was great. Aside from all the brown of leaves already gone, there were whole patches of vivid yellows against backdrops of deep greens.

I grabbed a few pictures before heading up higher and higher, essentially rising above tree line and arriving at the highest point of the pass: the Mt. Bierstadt peak viewing lot. With dogs in tow, I exited the vehicle, grabbed my tripod (even though it wasn't needed on a bright sunshiny day) and set out walking just to grab a few shots before moving further along the pass and then on to Kenosha Pass. However, I soon became distracted and kept wanting to move forward to take another picture and then another picture and then another picture and so forth. The next thing I know, the dogs and I were miles from the truck and we turned to head back before it became too cold.

On the way back down the mountain pass I pulled over at a scenic viewing location only to find a trail system majestically covered by aspens. I was very shocked and awed when I saw this trail leading off away from the parking area and will eagerly go back again in the future perhaps next fall, perhaps in the spring and perhaps this winter after it snows.

Anywho, here's one of my favorite shots from that unexpected jaunt:

Green, Gold and a Yellow Road

Canon City, CO and Thereabouts

A few months ago I went to Canon City, CO to go camping in the area with a friend. Naturally, I grabbed my dSLR and brought it along, but unfortunately there were more days of bad light than good light. What's "bad light" you might ask? Well, Timmy, "bad light" is flat and boring. 

Fortunately, though, I was able to grab a couple of decent images, even more fortunate are the others I was able to save with some creative editing.

Click Collage to go to Album

My friend had plans our first day in the area and I was left to my own devices. I took the truck and the dogs up into them thar hills and lucked across this old GMC sitting in someone's front yard. I pulled over and snapped a couple of shots quickly before jumping back into the Explorer and moving on. 

One our way back to the campsite from the city my friend suggested taking this very short very scenic route along some sort of ridge. The top might have been three car lanes wide, leaving only one lane's width for people to actually travel upon: Youtube video (NOT MINE). 

I love geology and even thought about studying it in college, so when I see these sorts of layers in the rock I become a little excited. 

Also up there are the underside of some donosaur footprints. You don't see the impression in the the rock, what you see are the underside which looks like a bunch of rock-bubbles clinging on. It's very surreal, especially at this height, reminding us that this wasn't always a ridge and some animals traversed here regularly.

While at the top, I pointed the camera back out towards the valley and snapped a surprisingly good image of the road winding it's way westward.

The day we left was the worst day, by far, weather-wise. It had rained all night and off and on throughout the day. We wanted to see the world famous Royal Gorge suspension bridge before leaving but as luck would have it, the earlier Colorado wildfires ravaged the area and the bridge was closed to visitors. Instead, we hiked up a small trail where we could see the bridge from afar.

Fire in the Sky

I went out to catch something completely different from this, but once I saw the rays of light shooting up under the dark clouds, I couldn't help but turn the camera towards the mountains.

That darker straight line is the Cherry Creek Dam and those mountains are more than 30 miles away.

Where the dam meets the water, off to the left of the image, is the Cherry Creek marina and if you zoom into the image you can see the boats floating there as they spend another night tethered to the piers.

I really wish I would have known the sunset was going to be this magnificent as I would have sought out a better view. As it was, this was a happy accident. My only wish was the dam wasn't in the image. However, the walk back to the truck plus drive time, would not have given me enough time to catch this with the rays shooting up and out like they are and that made all the difference between this sunset and hundreds of others.

Took the K5 Out

Finally had a chance to take the K5 out for a few shot this morning. Wow. Compared to my *IstDS it is amazing. Sort of like a Ferrari compared to a 1977 Ford Bronco. Here are some images from today. None of them are special, I was just practicing with the knobs and buttons.

First Image

First image with the new K5. Yes, this is my dog, Rufus. He is a very unwilling model so I had to stuff his Kong with elk meat. This image is SOOC (straight out of the camera). In other words, no post processing, no cropping, no nothing at all. I know, it's not a great image, but I wanted to use the camera!

Arrival!

Arrival of the K5 was as simple as opening the door to the UPS man. I unpacked the box (the deal I got had a lot of extras)  and while the battery is charging, I am reading the manual. About 350 pages! I've read novels with less pages! This camera has many many many more features and options than my poor *Ist DS does. The the DS has very basic features, nearly the same as one would find on a film SLR camera. The K5 seems to have so many more options! I better not lose the manual.